16 



RAIN. 



business, and are of opinion that the outline, in all 

 its curves and indentings, does not comprise less 

 than thirty miles. 



The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured 

 by the Hanger from the strong westerly winds. 

 The air is soft, but rather moist from the effluvia 

 of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy and free 

 from agues. 



The quantity of rain that falls on it is very con- 

 siderable, as may be supposed in so woody and 

 mountainous a district. As my experience in mea- 

 suring the water is but of short date, I am not 

 qualified to give the mean quantity. 1 I only know 

 that 



Inch. Hund. 



28 37! 



27 32 



30 71 

 50 26! 

 33 71 

 33 80 



31 55 

 39 57 



The village of Selborne, and large hamlet of 

 Oakhanger, with the single farms, and many scat- 



1 A very intelligent gentleman assures me, (and he speaks 

 from upwards of forty years' experience,) that the mean rain 

 of any place cannot be ascertained till a person has measured 

 it for a very long period. " If I had only measured the 

 rain," says he, " for the four first years, from 1740 to 1743, 

 I should have said the mean rain at Lyndon was 16^ inches 

 for the year ; if from 1740 to 1750, 18 inches. The mean 

 rain before 1763 was 20| ; from 1763 and since, 25| ; from 

 1770 to 1780, 26. If only 1773, 1774, and 1775, had been 

 measured, Lyndon mean rain would have been called 32 

 inches, increasing from 16'6 to 32." 



